Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Eagle Materials Inc has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from nine ratings firms, with six analysts recommending hold and three advising buy.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. recently raised the target price for the stock from $220.00 to $245.00 while maintaining a "neutral" rating.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25, with an annualized yield of 0.4%, to be paid on October 16th.

Shares of Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $254.7778.

EXP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $220.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Eagle Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $279.00 to $230.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $230.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th.

Eagle Materials Price Performance

EXP stock opened at $226.80 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.70 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Eagle Materials has a 12-month low of $191.91 and a 12-month high of $321.93. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $228.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $220.36.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.73 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $634.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.52 million. Eagle Materials had a net margin of 19.81% and a return on equity of 31.21%. On average, analysts expect that Eagle Materials will post 14.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Eagle Materials's payout ratio is 7.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eagle Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in Eagle Materials by 22.3% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 22,555 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $4,559,000 after purchasing an additional 4,117 shares in the last quarter. L1 Capital Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Eagle Materials during the second quarter worth about $725,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 486.7% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 14,252 shares of the construction company's stock worth $3,047,000 after acquiring an additional 11,823 shares in the last quarter. American Trust bought a new stake in shares of Eagle Materials during the second quarter worth about $332,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eagle Materials during the second quarter worth about $1,038,000. 96.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Eagle Materials Company Profile

Eagle Materials Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells heavy construction materials and light building materials in the United States. It operates in four segments: Cement, Concrete and Aggregates, Gypsum Wallboard, and Recycled Paperboard. The company engages in the mining of limestone for the manufacture, production, distribution, and sale of Portland cement, including Portland limestone cement; grinding and sale of slag; and mining of gypsum for the manufacture and sale of gypsum wallboards used to finish the interior walls and ceilings in residential, commercial, and industrial structures, as well as well as containerboard and lightweight packaging grades; manufacture and sale of recycled paperboard to the gypsum wallboard industry and other paperboard converters; the sale of readymix concrete; and mining and sale of aggregates, such as crushed stone, sand, and gravel.

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